The Chairmain of the New Jersey College Republicans has earned a sad title at such an early age: Douchebag. Apparently, in a slew of emails, Steven Damion attempted to extort money from a candidate's campaign in order to get support from the New Jersey College Republicans. Oops! That campaign notified lots and lots of people and then the shit hit the fan with lots of uncovering of the extortion and embezzlement and lack of integrity and what-have-yous.

It's never too early for those young Republicans to learn slimeball political gaming is it? We feel dirty after having read the emails (which are included in full if you click on 'permalink' below). Also, note the grasp of the English language in the last email...sounds like Steven is most likely not getting much of an education in this so-called 'college' he's attending.

[via Gawker]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven M. Damion [mailto:sdamion@eden.rutgers.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 4:28 PM
> To: Sean DiSomma
> Subject: Re: RE: Chapter Contact Information
>
> Sean,
>
> I would be more than happy to give that information to you and the
> Forrester Campaign, but I am looking at you to help us out as well. We
> all know Forrester is set financially, I mean it's not every guy that
> contributes 2,000 to campaigns around the state like it's nothing. I
> would like your campaign to cut the NJ College Republicans a nice check,
> since his campaign is going to be our primary concern this fall and we
> are going to need resources in place for our recruitment drive in
> August-September to help Forrester with ground troops. If you we able
> to knock Schroeder for a 2,500 check I figure that Forrester should be
> able to at least match that. I mean the 100 dollars he gave to us is
> really drops in the bucket. I have local candidates for assembly that
> are cutting us checks for 250. See where I am coming from? Hopefully,
> you can get something moving before we meet up next week.
>
> Keep me posted on this. If there is a 3,000 dollar check waiting for me
> I am coming running and the campaign will have total access to our
> resources at all times, no problem.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steve
>

EMAIL FROM NJ STATE GOP CHAIRMAN TO STEVE DAMION
-----Original Message-----

> Date: Sat Jun 18 00:07:40 EDT 2005
> From: "Tom Wilson"
> Subject: Re: RE: Chapter Contact Information
> To: "Rick England" , "Tom Wilson" , sdamion@eden.rutgers.edu, Sean@doug2005.com
>
> Steve,
>
> The Forrester campaign forwarded to me the email below which appears to come from you..
>
> If it's not from you, skip the rest of this email.
>
> If it is from you, we have a serious problem that requires immediate attention. Let me suggest that you need to re-read what you wrote, think about the people your working with, and spend this weekend thinking about the reasons I shouldn't share your email with every legislator and county chairman in the state (I can promise you that if I do, the few dollars you've raised will be the last you see from any Republican organization or candidate) and then contact the national CR office to have your ass removed.
> Your approach is 100% out of line - not to mention quite possibly illegal.
>
> If you decide that you erred in judgement in your unfortunate choice of words, that's great. We'll chalk it up to your lack of experience. Everyone deserves a second chance.
>
> The first thing you'll do is get Sean exactly what he asked you for first thing Monday AM with your apology and assurance that he will have from you complete and unqualified cooperation from now on.
>
> Next, you'll prepare the plan and budget that I told you was a prerequisite to getting any funding from anyone. Here's a little bit of info for you - the state party and Forrester campaign are really the same entity for your purposes. No plan, no money. I want it by July 1. Now that I see what you're all about, I'd also like by then a complete accounting for the CR account for the past 2 years. I want to know where every dollar came from and every penny went. I'd also like a monthly report from you detailing the same info. After that we'll see if it's necessary for us to put a co-signer on the CR account to make sure that funds are spent in accordance with the mission of the group.
>
> I'm not sure what you thought this job entailed, but I can tell you that I've never seen anyone in that post cop an attitude anywhere close to the one displayed in your email. If after thinking about all this and what kind of effort and commitment is required, you decide that your not up for it, then step out so we can move on. We have way too much work to do to have to deal with this kind of crap.
>
> Rest assured that I will keep your email and that thanks to it, you have invited a level of scrutiny for the CR's that has not previously existed. Trust is something that is earned, not conferred with the title that accompanies your job. Let me give you a piece of advice that was often dispensed by one of the most respected county chairs in recent history: ?Never be more trouble than you're worth.? Another situation like this comes up with you and your term will come to an abrupt and unpleasant conclusion.
>
> You're off on the wrong foot and need to earn our collective trust and respect by demonstrating that you are not at all what your email suggests you are. The good news for you is that should you decide to adjust your attitude, we don't have time to hold this unfortunate episode against you. Do the right thing and we'll forget this ever happened. I'm think you're smart enough to see the opportunity you're being given.
>
> See where I'm coming from?

DAMION'S RESPONSE
----- Message from "Steven M. Damion" on Sat, 18 Jun 2005 13:12:35 -0400 (EDT) -----
Tom,

Let me first say that I am shocked to see that Sean has lowered himself completely to a new low. It was unfortunate that I took the initiative to read your e-mail because I was curious to know what all the fuss was about. This whole thing is news to me and I don't know if Sean purposely tried doing this on me or if it came from another source and was put in Sean's lap.

What I do know is this, I did talk to Sean verbally about the possibly of a contribution from the Forrester campaign in the past, but nothing in grave detail to the account below. I also know that Sean has a lot of remorse against me for a lot of reasons. One being that I was given the job he wanted with Bill Spadea's last campaign for Congress and I earned the title of NJ College Republican Chairman respectively, a title that Sean had his sights set on from last year. He tried every trick in the book to step over me to winning this title of Chairman, but fortunately was unsuccessful. I even was fortunate to hear the after I had earned this positon Sean made a public statement that went somewhere along the lines of this, "Steve may have won the title, but I'll still be controlling the College Republicans."

Sean is not consistent and has already build a bad reputation in this state's political scene and now he is trying to cast his own shadow onto me. If you need assurance to what I am talking about all you need to do is get in touch with the Schroeder campaign and they will tell you where Sean's loyalties lie.

At this point I am going to cut off all communication ties with Sean and will hope you can believe what I am saying is true. If not and if I can't accpet your trust in knowing what I am saying holds water then I am going to step down as Chairman of this organization. I am not going to be hastled by Sean with proposturous false accounts against me and stand by and take it. I have already had my fair share of negativity with Sean and simply am not going to be controlled by a man of this statute.

If you can't see where it is I am coming from than we are going to be at a standstill as far as working together on a united front. I can't see our organization being babied by our state party. I have too much respect for this organization and our party for something like this to happen. I hope we can see eye to eye and by all means feel free to forward what it is I am saying to you too Sean and the Forrester campaign. I just felt I should give you the respect for you to hear me out independently first.

Sincerely,
Steven M. Damion
State Chair
NJ College Republicans

CALL FOR RESIGNATION

Subject: Re: Future of the NJCR State Organization
Date: 7/9/05, 11:49 AM
From: Garrett Brooks
To:

The Unified College Republicans:

The undersigned have decided to write you this letter to inform the College Republican chapter leaders of the problems that have arisen within the New Jersey College Republicans organization (NJCRs hereafter).

Unfortunately, those schools that have decided to enlist in this crusade of sorts have seen that our new Chairman, Steven Damion, is lacking the utmost important trait of a leader: integrity. In the past several weeks Damian has single ? handedly divided the Executive Board of the NJCRs, disenfranchised schools within the state, used his position for personal and financial gain and provided the entire country with a poor opinion of the NJCRs as a whole.

We have taken it upon ourselves take action on this subject. It is the opinion of the undersigned that this is the only viable solution which would lead to a smooth transition in what is such an integral year for the Republican Party inNew Jersey.

The charges as uncovered thus far are as follows:

I Embezzlement
A Used hundreds of dollars from the College Republican account for personal use

1. Paid for trip to Florida(to retrieve an engagement ring) from College Republican account

2. Paid roundtrip airfare for his fiancé to the CRNC last month (she was not a delegate and not on official business)

B Has impeded the state treasurer from the execution of his duties

1. Switched banks to cover up any potential audits in the future

2. Made the College Republican account inaccessible to the state treasurer, Joe McCarthy

II Extortion
1. Demanded a donation of thousands of dollars from the Forrester campaign for information requested by the them
2. Intentionally sent donation letters referencing the Forrester campaign without the approval of the campaign.

I would like to remind the leaders of this organization that the above are all impeachable offences. As you will see in the attached documents. As the NJGOP Chairman Tom Wilson put it: "... you [Damion] have invited a level of scrutiny for the CR's that has not previously existed." He has discredited the College Republicans and it is reflected on the organization as a whole.

This morning, Steven Damion tendered his resignation as Chairman of NJCRs this morning. Let us take this time to put this behind us and focus on the future.

Sincerely,
Garrett A. Brooks, Executive Director/Acting Chairman
Cassandra Cavanaugh, Vice Chairman
Joseph McCarthy, Treasurer
Greg Walker, Secretary

DAMION LETTER OF RESIGNATION
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven M. Damion"
To:
Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2005 9:52 AM

> New Jersey College Republicans and State Leaders:
>
> Due to slandering and false pretenses I have decided to resign as Chairman
> of the NJCR organization. I can not lead an organization whose members
> have decided to be so divided on issues that couldn't be farther from the
> truth. I do not feel it is appropriate, in this case, to defend myself
> due to the fact that I have not done anything wrong. I think it is so sad
> that people have disclosed themselves to only listening to one and only
> one side and accepting it as the truth. I wish the organization the best
> of luck in the up and coming year.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven M. Damion